Objectives

Greenpatrol objectives

The general goal of the project is to build a satellite guided, automonous robot for pest control in Greenhouses. Greenhouses are becoming increasingly important for efficient crop growth at small areas worldwide. And pests can destroy up to 90% of the greenhouse crop if no measures are taken. At the same time pest control has to be reduced to:

reduce environmental impact,

improve working conditions (health),

improve product quality

Greenpatrol is one of the first project to use GNSS for indoor positioning.

Why building robots for greenhouses?

In many regions in Europe it is difficult to find workers for the difficult, meticulous and sometimes unhealthy work conditions in greenhouses. Work forces therefore have to come from further and further away. In addition, due to insufficiently motivated staff, there is variation in quality and capacity in the production process. Robots can fill this gap.

The work consists mainly of picking, sorting, inspecting. Thanks to modern sensors, robots are also increasingly accurate ‘the fine arts’ of handling food products. In the greenhouse and on the field, the circumstances of living plants are constantly changing in a changing environment. Robots are gradually improving in dealing with and responding to varying circumstances.

In recent decades monoculture crops were most common and efficient, but it proved to be not the most durable. Recent developments show more sustainable and more productive new ways of farming. For example: Intercropping, where two or more crops are grown on one plot, offers great advantages. It is good for the soil conditions and there are potentially higher yields than when each crop is grown separately. More versatile robots and robotic applications can help the cultivation of combined crops in Greenhouses.

The Greenpatrol-robot will contribute to all these issues using state of the art new TECHNOLOGY.